LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Potential advances in the treatment
of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer deaths in the
United States, will be a major focus at a key meeting of
oncology specialists starting on Friday.

At the American Society of Clinical Oncology on Sunday,
biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc is slated to unveil
long-awaited results from a pivotal trial of its Erbitux drug,
in combination with chemotherapy, in patients with advanced
nonsmall cell lung cancer.

The company has already said that the study, called Flex,
had met its main goal of boosting survival, but physicians and
investors are curious about exactly how much longer patients
were shown to live.

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"The Flex study will be one of the most important
presentations at ASCO," said Dr. Roy Herbst, chief of thoracic
oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "Lung cancer
doctors and patients would like to know more details."

The Chicago meeting, which is expected to attract more than
25,000 cancer specialists, will also be a forum for new
research on how best to combine cancer therapies and to
determine before treatment which patients are likely to
benefit.

Lung cancer kills 1.3 million globally a year, according to
the World Health Organization, and the American Cancer Society
says lung cancer was diagnosed in 213,380 people in the United
States in 2007, killing 160,390.

ERBITUX AND AVASTIN

Erbitux, also known as cetuximab, is an antibody designed
to block a protein called epidermal growth factor that is
believed to play a role in cancer cell growth. The drug is
already approved for cancers of the colon and the head and
neck.

Bristol-Myers Squibb and ImClone, which is controlled by
financier Carl Icahn, sell Erbitux in North America. In other
regions, the drug is marketed by Germany's Merck KGaA.

The lung cancer research is likely to influence
oncologists, who currently have only one nonchemotherapy option
for initial treatment of the disease -- Genentech Inc's
Avastin, an antibody that works by cutting off blood supply to
tumors.

The trial under which Avastin was approved excluded certain
patient groups and showed that the drug prolonged survival by
about two months. The Erbitux lung cancer trial, called Flex,
enrolled a wider group of patients.

Another Phase III trial of Avastin, for which sponsor Roche
Holding AG released full results last month, showed that the
drug did not help lung cancer patients live longer, but did
help keep the disease from progressing.

Avastin research to be presented at ASCO examined the
safety of the drug, also known as bevacizumab, in patients
excluded from previous trials -- including those with lung
cancer that has spread to the brain.

ADVANCED CASES

Conference attendees will also see data on how best to
treat lung cancer if the disease begins to progress despite the
first round of treatment.

Trial results released ahead of the conference earlier this
month showed that patients with advanced lung cancer who took
Eli Lilly and Co's Alimta, or pemetrexed, after finishing their
normal course of chemotherapy lived cancer-free for two months,
or 40 percent, longer than those who took a placebo.

Those findings, as well as the Erbitux data, may have
implications for OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc's Tarceva, which is
approved for nonsmall cell lung cancer patients previously
treated with two or more rounds of chemotherapy.

Results from trials looking at Tarceva, or erlotinib, as an
earlier-stage lung cancer treatment are expected later this
year.

The ASCO conference will also be the stage for numerous
presentations of early clinical data for a range of lung cancer
compounds, including Exelixis Inc's XL647, which is being
studied in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer who have
relapsed following treatment with a targeted cancer drug like
Tarceva.